John Gotti for Prime Minister . . .

Our current government is looking more like an organized crime syndicate all the time. Virtually the whole country knows that they are guilty of violence, corruption, graft, conspiracy, and fraud, but like a good syndicate they know how to manipulate the system to avoid indictment and conviction. But Harper is worse than a modern gangster like John Gotti. He is more like an old-fashioned crime boss like Al Capone because he, like Capone, has control of those who are supposed to protect the public interest against his crimes.

Now, I am the first to advocate for the principle of innocent; it is arguably the most important principle in our justice system. But there is an incredible irony in the fact that the very people who are working to destroy the equality and independence of our system of justice are taking advantage in order to stay in power and destroy it. The whole thing is strange, twisted and depressing.

The comparison to organized crime is clear to everyone who is paying attention. The Conservatives can get away with all sorts of crimes and acts of corruption, like organized crime groups, the only chance of really convicting them of the crime is if one of their own finally turn against them This is the way both Capone and Gotti were finally convicted. In the meantime they can take advantage of the fact that they control the RCMP, they can cut the budget of Elections Canada and continue to refuse to cooperate with such investigations, they can do all sorts of thing to avoid being accountable. And as with many organized crime syndicates, this can go on for years before they finally go too far and their crimes become so overwhelming that they can no longer hide from their own corruption. Until then we all feel like the FBI and Treasury agents who continually try to bring down a crime boss but the evidence they need is always just beyond their grasp. We know where they, we know what they've done, but we are essentially powerless to stop them. And as the Harpercons make efforts to gerrymander the system, the only possibility for holding them accountable may soon be beyond our power too.

(And, of course, I didn't even go into the fact that the Quebec Government is widely known to have actual ties to organized crime. And as Amir Khadir points out, there is a real irony in the fact that here is a government that actually be part of organized crime making laws that heavily restrict the ability of the people to hold them accountable.)